Various types of insulating jackets for beverage containers are known in the art, such as that disclosed by the Tumberg (U.S. Pat. No. 4,548,349) and Carlson (U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,656). These designs have several drawbacks. One is that the sleeves are of a tubular design which slip onto the cup. They have no spring tension in them to help them stay on the upper perimeter of the cup, so, unless specifically held in place by the user, the sleeve tends to fall to the bottom of the cup. This can cause inconvenience when the user sets the cup down and then attempts to pick it up again. Another drawback to the current art is that the materials used tend to be expensive relative to the end use. Currently coffee shops such as Starbucks use a second paper cup as an insulating sleeve. The cost of the cup is about 4 cents. Therefore, the cost of an insulating band should be less than 4 cents. Another problem with the current art is that the insulating sleeves don't stack compactly. The modest taper of the walls of the paper cups mean that when the relatively thick walled insulating sleeves nest one on top of the other, they take up an excessive mount of space. Some sleeves are shipped flat and assembled on site but this adds time to beverage preparation.